Its hard to miss Zowa cafe if you’ve been to World Square’s lower ground floor. For starters it a mixture of bright yellows representing the eggs in the Japanese Omurice that they specialise in. For those unfamiliar with an Omurice, its an omelet stuffed with fried rice. However Zowa cafe is most definitely Korean in origin given the Korean Hangul script under all items on the menu and walls. The plastic display models of the dishes outside reassuringly remind me of a trip we took to Tokyo when I was 12 and we used to seek out the restaurants with the plastic food displays.
Stepping inside, we are greeted with the sight of some enormous chairs. Its all a little Alice in Wonderland but the chairs, although arrestingly tall, are very comfortable to relax and sit back in. There are Christmas baubles dangling on the bottom of the lighting fixtures and curiously, there is clingfilm over the plastic models of ice cream in the front fridge.
We’re tempted by the lunch specials, which features a tasty looking Pork Cutlet Omurice in chili sauce (usually $13.80, $11.80 for lunch) and also by the regular menu where we order the Mixed mushroom omurice in cream sauce $10.80 which comes with a soup of the day (all main meals come with the soup except for the lunch specials).
There are a huge variety of Omurices with beef stroganoff, chicken and ham roll, smoked chicken, hamburg, grilled prawn in a variety of sauces from cream, brown, chili and oriental or a mixture of two. There’s even a Meatball Omurice for two called “Meat ball Couple Omurice in Brown sauce” featuring twin Omurices with meatballs scattered around it sitting in the ominous “brown sauce”. I hold back on ordering this as I want to try more flavours but I know I will be back for this one. There are also inexpensive little entrees from garlic bread for $1.90 or buffalo wings for $3.80 as well as varities of Ramen.
We’re not waiting for long to get our food, and our Omurices arrives along with the soup of the day. I try the Pork cutlet omurice in chili sauce. The pork cutlet is thinner than you’d expect, more like a pork schnitzel but its delicious, particularly with the sauce. The paper thin omelette is filled to the brim with fried rice and this is soft and filling and good against the crispy cutlet and tangy spicy chili sauce. I don’t want to share it at all.
The Mixed mushroom omurice in cream sauce is creamy and flavoursome but pales in comparison to the pork cutlet Omurice. I finish my half but am hoping my husband wants to swap back. I am out of luck as he is happily devouring the other Omurice.
The soup is a watery tomato with some spices. I am not taken with it but my husband is so I give him the rest of it.
Now I only need to save up some stomach space to try the Couples Meatball Omurice another day.
Zowa Cafe
Shop 7, Lower Ground Floor
World Square Shopping Centre
Cnr of George, Livepool, Pitt and Goulburn Street
Sydney NSW 2000
Tel: +61 (02) 9267 5050
2 Comments | Add your own
Well I’ve learned something today! I’d never heard of an “Omurice” before.. how fascinating! I liked the look of both dishes in the photo’s here..but I’ll take your word for it that crumbed pork won the day! Re: That kind of pork.. My husband and I love Tonkatsu don at our local Japanese eateries.. with a lovely oniony brown sauce atop some warm rice. I don’t see many places with plastic food. I remember in the former “Melbourne Central” shopping complex there used to be a lovely Japanese lunchy place.. Back in the days when I didn’t know about Okonomiyaki.. I used to go there for the takeaway potato salad (Japanese mayo of course)! Anyway.. they had plastic food dishes outside. But the eatery has since closed down. There are other Japanese places there.. but not like that.. Not one’s that make slabs of Okonomiyaki and sell them like hotcakes at lunchtime. Sigh.
Hi Maria-I could definitely go for another pork katsu. I felt bad as the woman next to us asked us what the ones we ordered were and we told her but we hadn’t tried them yet. So I couldn’t tell her that the mushroom one was ok but the pork one was better.
Mmm Japanese potato salad is so good…I love seeing the plastic models as I am one of those people that always looks at what other people are ordering and order it if it looks good
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